We all dream of journeying (or living) among the stars. But space is a spectacularly awful place for humans, and we’re not suited for life there at all. And yet, it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are all the ways we’ll need to re-engineer the human body, in order to make space our home. »6/18/15 11:20am 6/18/15 11:20am

Experiments aboard the International Space Station with common pavement ants have shown just how badly microgravity impairs the insects' ability to search unexplored areas. Remarkably, however, tumbling ants demonstrated an uncanny ability to regain contact with the surface. »3/31/15 7:00am 3/31/15 7:00am

Sad news from Russia's Foton-M4 satellite. The spacecraft on which a group of geckos spent a few weeks trying to get it on in microgravity returned to Earth, as planned, earlier today. The only problem? The lizards were frozen solid. »9/01/14 5:42pm 9/01/14 5:42pm

What do the ISS astronauts do in their free time? Sometimes, they like to act out action movie scenes—and the part where a character falls to his death is much more fun in microgravity. That's when they aren't playing with their floating food or doing weightless backflips. »6/27/14 12:40pm 6/27/14 12:40pm

A new study of a dozen NASA astronauts has found that exposure to microgravity causes hearts to become more spherical in shape — a change that could lead to serious cardiac problems while in space and back on Earth. »3/31/14 9:40am 3/31/14 9:40am

As if astronauts didn't already have enough health-related concerns to be worried about, a new study shows that microgravity environments speed up biological aging and the onset of cardiovascular disease by affecting blood vessel cells. »11/01/13 1:20pm 11/01/13 1:20pm

Zero gravity is all fine and well — but not being able to grab a cup of joe in the morning would be a huge dealbreaker for many prospective astronauts. Thankfully, NASA has a solution to the problem. »7/15/13 7:20am 7/15/13 7:20am

What do you do if you're a physicist and want to get experiments done in microgravity, but can't drum up the cash to go to space? You use magnets to both get results and make a picture that looks like it came out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. »6/19/13 3:20pm 6/19/13 3:20pm

The simple flame is an extraordinarily complex phenomenon, one that involves thousands of chemical reactions. But fire also plays off the effects of gravity. So what happens when you take that gravity away? As a recent experiment aboard the ISS has shown, you get a very strange flame, indeed. »6/19/13 7:40am 6/19/13 7:40am

Burritos are already the food that comes in a delicious wrapper, but there's nothing quite as delightful as a zero-gravity burrito spinning around as you assemble it. In this scene from 2010's Hubble 3D, an astronaut prepares for his spacewalk with a light, floating snack. »7/07/12 10:30am 7/07/12 10:30am

In a study commissioned by NASA, a research team at the University of Missouri has made a mouse levitate, using nothing but magnetic fields. As a result, the poor mouse floats in mid-air, wondering where the ground went. »9/09/09 1:20pm 9/09/09 1:20pm

Many space age dreams involve humans spreading out into the far reaches of the galaxy, but our extraterrestrial breeding program might need a little help. Scientists in Japan have found microgravity may function as a form of birth control. »8/25/09 4:34pm 8/25/09 4:34pm